The New Philosophy Vol 65 No 3, July-September 1962

by Morna Hyatt

by Edward F. Allen

First, because of the considerable importance of the Humean interpretation of cause as it is understood especially by the positivist, I will discuss some of the results of this interpretation in present-day thinking, especially among physicists.Second, because I believe that much thinking about cause and effect today depends upon a nominalistic interpretation which is essentially idealistic, I shall devote a section to trying to answer the question, “What is real?”Third I shall devote a section, all too brief, to giving a qualitative picture that provides evidence from physics of the existence of a microscopic level in the world which is a discrete degree separate from the world of human sensation.Fourth I shall survey some of the items from a point of view based upon the Writings.A fifth section is added consisting of questions that ought to be answered in a more complete treatment of cause.